The Incarna update for Eve-Online is not going especially well for the game's developers, CCP. First, there's the $70 monocle that players can buy and equip to their new avatars . Then there's the threat of pay-to-win items entering the game system via microtransactions. A significant proportion of Eve's playerbase are upset. Significant enough to organise a vast in-game protest at Jita, Eve's trade-hub. The video above comes from that protest, with around a 1000 pilots firing upon the trade-station. This isn't the only protest ongoing; similar protests have taken place across Tranquility this evening.
To be fair, there are also anti-protest protests taking place. And they've got lasers, too. Because that's the kind of game Eve is. More, including CCP's response, below.
The CCP developers have explained some of the thinking behind Incarna and their micro-transaction store in an extraordinary blog-post, titled 'Fearless '.
Here's the killer quote. It's pretty special.
"People have been shocked by the price range in the NeX store, but you should remember that we are talking about clothes. Look at the clothes you are currently wearing in real life. Do you have any specific brands? Did you choose it because it was better quality than a no-name brand? Assume for a short while that you are wearing a pair of $1,000 jeans from some exclusive Japanese boutique shop. Why would you want to wear a pair of $1,000 jeans when you can get perfectly similar jeans for under $50? What do other people think about you when they see you wearing them? For some you will look like the sad culmination of vainness while others will admire you and think you are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Whichever it is, it is clear that by wearing clothes you are expressing yourself and that the price is one of the many dimensions that clothes possess to do that in addition to style and fit. You don't need to buy expensive clothes. In fact you don't need to buy any clothes. Whatever you choose to do reflects what you are and what you want others to think you are."
/facepalm
